Medical school applicants (or any other professional school applicant) must assess their credentials realistically to present themselves in the best possible way during the application process. Since applicants are evaluated based on specific quantitative criteria (primarily undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores) and non-quantitative criteria (research and clinical exposure, leadership skills, mentoring experiences), as well as…
8 To-Dos for Canadians Applying to U.S. Med Schools
Each year, Canadian medical school hopefuls look across the border for their medical education. While there are obvious challenges (adapting to a different healthcare system, returning to Canada after med school to a Canadian residency, and much higher costs), the higher acceptance rates at U.S. programs (about 40% overall for U.S. allopathic programs, as compared…
How to Improve and Present Your Experiences for Your Med School Reapplication
In the final section of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series, we’ll discuss how reapplicants should improve, and then present, their experiences. One last factor that can seriously hurt your chances is a lack of substantive, ongoing experiences. Medical schools want students who are passionate and committed – to the world…
Improve Your MCAT Score for Medical School Acceptance
Fortunately, it’s easier to tackle a poor MCAT score than a poor GPA. While you should not retake the exam too many times, a better-prepared second or possibly third attempt can be a sound strategy. Many people find that studying independently or with a group of friends works well. Reviewing your old class notes and…
Boost Your GPA for Medical School Acceptance
In our last post, we talked about how to best present yourself in your secondaries and interviews. Today we’ll move forward and discuss ways to boost your GPA, another important feature of your med school application profile. Feeling a bit fragile after those intense last few blog posts? That’s to be expected – you’ve just…
Reapplying to Medical School: Secondaries, Interviews, School Selection & Application Timing
With the multi-staged admissions process, applicants can make an impact at each step – or be weeded out. Your assessment continues by looking at other ways you communicated with the admissions committee, and whether or not they helped you past the next hurdle. Secondaries Your secondary essays go beyond the initial introduction and flesh out your application….
Reapplying to Med School: Your Primary Application
The next part of your assessment will examine how you presented yourself to the admissions committees. (You can review part 1 of your assessment in our earlier post, Reapplying to Med School: Evaluating Your Medical School Profile.) Keep in mind that this part of your application is necessarily subjective – there are often no right…
Reapplying to Med School: Evaluating Your Medical School Profile
You knew there was a possibility that this would happen, but that doesn’t erase the sting. What can you do now? How can you move forward? What should you do if all you’ve received are rejections? To start with, know you’re not alone. Last year (2018-2019), only 40.9% of allopathic applicants made the cut. Osteopathic…
Med School Kicks Off: Ten Tips to Get You Through the Season
Medical school hopefuls are getting ready to work on those applications. This can be a hectic time as you try to stay on top of everything. Here are ten tips to help you hit the ground running: Get cozy with the AMCAS/AACOMAS. These two services – the American Medical Colleges Application Service (AMCAS) and the…
Med School Admissions: Challenges and Solutions for Older Applicants
“You’re going back to medical school? Why would you do that? Are you crazy?” Hopefully most people won’t react so strongly to your decision, but the question is probably still on their minds. And similar reservations are bound to pop into the heads of medical school admissions committee members reviewing your application. While the experiences…
Can You Submit Your AMCAS Application BEFORE Taking the MCAT?
It’s risky to apply to med school before taking or retaking the MCAT for a few reasons: 1. Applying to med school is expensive and time intensive. It’s hard to know where you might be a competitive applicant if you don’t know how your scores compare to other students at a school. Your practice scores…
6 Tips to Improve Your AMCAS Application Activities Section
It’s almost summer, and for me that means barbecues on the deck, specifically with the company of friends. I was recently enjoying a cook-out at one friend’s home in particular, and gracious as my hosts were, I felt a bit daunted by the huge piece of steak that filled my plate, accompanied by a small…
The Medical School Application “Deadline”
In just a few days, many of you will want to submit your medical school application. You’ve probably heard that you need to submit on the first day possible – May 31st, this year – if you want your best shot. But just how true is that? Medical School Admissions Myth vs. Reality It is…
Early Decision for Medical School: Does It Make Sense For You?
Do you have a dream school, the one place where you’ve always wanted to study medicine, and no other place will do? Do you have a compelling reason for this one program, maybe a spouse whose job requires them to be in this location or your only living family member is in the area? Or…
GPA Issues When Applying to Med School: What to do With a “W”
Almost everybody has a blemish on their GPA. Usually it’s a failed class or a semester of poor grades. But there’s also the issue of how a “W” on your transcript will affect your chance of admission to medical school. The truth is that withdrawing from one or two classes is not going to hurt…
How to Use Your Research Background to Get into Medical School
You’ve always been great at science and figured your research – whether in college, grad school, or professionally – would help you get into medical school. Now you find it a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you probably aced the MCAT science sections. On the other, you may be viewed (rightly or not) as…
How to Get into Medical School for Non-Science Majors
Will your undergraduate degree in Music, English, or Economics put you at a disadvantage when the time comes to apply to medical school? Not at all! Medical schools want well-rounded students with the potential to become passionate, dedicated physicians, and following your heart into art or another non-science discipline can demonstrate that you have varied…
7 Medical School Acceptances: The Early Bird’s Story
Cydney Foote, one of Accepted’s most experienced medical school admissions consultants, worked with a client, Ben (not his real name), during the 2016-2017 cycle. Ben started working on his personal statement in February and received medical school acceptances by October. He certainly had good grades and MCAT results, but he also actively maximized those assets by…
Med School Applicants: It’s Not Too Late to Interview!
As the medical school application season progresses, you might be getting anxious, especially if you haven’t gotten the response you want yet. Don’t be discouraged. While it is late, medical schools are still (and will be for some time) inviting applicants to interview. Here are a few things that you can do to maximize your…
Tips for Applicants With a Low MCAT Score (Part 2)
To learn more about your options without retaking the exam, check out Part 1 of this series. Your MCAT score is crucial to making it to the interview stage of the medical school application process. For those with low MCAT scores who want to attend a US allopathic medical school, the only real option is retaking…
